Riley's family came along to his cake smash session last month, and what a messy one it was!

As usual we started with some family pictures, and pictures of Riley with his older brother and sister - Riley wasn't interested in the slightest, and so I brought out my favourite props in the hopes we could at least keep him on the backdrop long enough to get a couple of snaps!

My stool (a favourite among many babies!) worked for the briefest period, before Riley discovered he could climb off it and escape to raid the prop box ;)

Up next was Bertie, my little red racing car, and Riley loved it so much he even licked the steering wheel! We managed to get a lovely smile out of him though.

I then set up for the cake smash part of the session (my favourite bit!), and then we let Riley loose!

I think there's still chocolate cake hidden somewhere in the studio; that stuff went eeeeverywhere! That's all part of the fun though!

Once the cake had been smashed to smithereens, Riley had a quick splash in my tub in between trying to climb out, and that was his session all finished!

Riley and his family came back for their viewing last week and these are their favourite images from his session, and I hope you like them too!

This year I decided to offer Mum & Me mini sessions. This has come from a personal side of me, as my mum passed away 13 years ago, and I don't have many nice photographs of the both of us, and certainly no professional ones.

This was taken circa December 1991 (gulp!)

It made me realise that we as mums rarely get in the picture, we're always the ones taking them aren't we?

I backed up all of my phone pictures last night, and out of around 600 photos, I was in three. Three! You never know what is around the corner and I want to leave my children with photographs of me (actual physical photographs - when was the last time you loaded up a floppy disk, or a CD?) which they can then pass on to grandchildren and so on, keeping memories alive.

It's time we existed in photographs!

I'm not saying everyone should go out and book a professional photographer - I understand that everyone's budgets stretch in different ways and sometimes it's just not possible. But we should get in more photographs with our children, if you don't have anyone to take a picture - take a selfie!

In our house, it's always me taking photographs (of course haha!) and I've taken hundreds of the kids and their daddy, but men often don't think to take pictures of us with the children - and they're not completely to blame; how many of us mums cringe when someone tries to take a photograph of us? Maybe we feel too big, too skinny, too wobbly, hair is too messy, no makeup... it really doesn't matter, our children won't care that we hadn't washed our hair for two days before the picture was taken (thank goodness for dry shampoo!).

​We need to be more proactive in being included in photographs.

With this in mind, I launched my Mum & Me mini sessions. Mini sessions are exactly what they say on the tin, smaller versions of my standard sessions, but with the added value of products included in the session price. For more information on those, and to book, please visit my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/littlecherubsphotography ​​

So, this post went in a totally different direction to what I'd initially planned! But the main point is this - we need to be in more photos with our children, end of. Whether it be phone pictures taken by daddy, selfies, or with a professional photographer, we need to #ExistInPhotographs

Goodness me what a year it has been! (And I'm not just talking about the number of celebrities who have sadly left us!)

Little Cherubs Photography started the year with a move back to being home studio based (yay for no commute!) but soon the practicalities of running a home studio became impossible and the search for the perfect studio space began!

​Little Cherubs Photography moved into its new home in May, and opened its doors in June. The studio has given me so much freedom to go wild, increase the prop stash (not that I needed much encouragement there!), get some product samples in (everyone adores the acrylic panel, including myself!) and I now get the joy of watching clients' faces light up as they see their images for the first time in my viewing room.

In January I attended a newborn photography workshop; I think it's important to keep training up to date, and newborn safety is not something I take lightly. I'm proud to say I am a trained newborn specialist and that your tiny delicate babies are safe in my hands.

I've continued to support charities throughout the year; namely Little Treasures Charity and Remember My Baby, and will do so through 2017, no doubt adding to my list!

I've met many brand new families as they brought their precious babies in for their newborn sessions, I've seen babies on their first birthdays as they smash the living daylights out of their birthday cake during cake smashes, families have returned for their milestone sessions, or with their latest addition. I've met some truly lovely people - my clients are the BEST!

I honestly cannot say how humbled I am that you chose me to photograph your most important moments. I really do have the best job in the world.

​Here are a few faces from this years sessions, can you spot yours?

I still have one last session before the year is out, but I want to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to everyone who has either used my services or supported me in some way - without you all, this wouldn't have been possible.

I look forward to seeing old faces again and meeting new ones in 2017! I'm already planning the sessions booked in the diary so far, and can't wait to get stuck in!